The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-02
CONGRESS- FULL HAND.
REPRESENTATIVE NORWOOD ON
THE PENDING ISSUES.

for Washington to be present at the pre-
liminary caucus on Saturday night. The
tenure Of Office is the life of Congress,
and when the Forty-ninth Congress ad-
journed the clerks and employees terms of
office expired, although they hold over until
their successors are appointed. They will
have to be elected at the opening of Con-
gress, and the Democrats wish to have their
ticket madeup satisfactorily so that no split
will occur to give the Republicans chance.
Mr. Norwood was asked yesterday what the
chances for a harbor appropriation were,
and he said he could not tell.
'Will the appropriation for Savannah
not be larger than it was last time" was
asked.
eyes, but not twice as large as it was be-
fore though it ought to be. The last APP
preparation ran out July l, 1887. The river
and harbor bill which was passed by the
last Congress was not signed by the Presi-
dent, because he had not time TO consider it.
That left us without an appropriation for
one year. That year will expire July l,
1883, and the appropriation which viii be
made by the next Congress will not he
available until then. IL ought to be twice
as large as the last appropriation because
we have had none this year. but 1t will not
be doubled though it will be increased"
''Will not Congress be liberal because of
the large surplus"
NOT A POPULAR MEASURE.
mo. Next year will come the election
and the Democrats want to maze an eco
nomical showing. Money will be a hard
thing to get from the Fiftieth Congress.
Then, too, the river and harbor measur Is
not a popular measure. There are so many
Congressman who live on the prairies or in
the mountains who do not appreciate the
need of river and harbor improvements that
those coming from the banks of large water
courses, the lakes and the coasts have
TO combine and stand up solidly
for the measure, or they would
never get a cent. Those who do not live
near the water will not vote for the bill
under any circumstances, and they in
variably oppose it whenever it comes up.
The measure has been brought into disre
pute because so many appropriations have
been made for little creeks that no one ever
heard Of Sometimes we have to get a
local map before we can find one
of the streams that money is to be
spent to improve OF course it would
be much better if we could confine the APP
preparations to such ports as New York,
Philadelphia, Savannah, Baltimore and
New Orleans and to the large water courses
that support commerce as do the Savannah
and Mississippi rivers, but If we did that we
could not get votes enough to put the bill
through. Money is wanted for these little
streams, and the committee has to give it to
get money for the more important places.
They have TO throw the tub to the whale
THE MAIN ISSUE
"What will be the main issue in the next
Congress"
1.-The tariff, by all means, There will be
hot fight and it is about the only promi-
nent question before the country. / see that
bo Ornfa anti
out interviews with the congressman who
are arriving and who say that the tariff re-
form bill will undoubtedly pass. | think
those gentlemen are reckoning without their
host. The tariff question is entirely in the
hands of Mr. Randall In the last Congress
we had maj ity of forty-three. When
we wanted to take up the tariff reform bill
Mr.. Randall and twenty-nine others went
over to the Republicans and there was a
majority of seventeen against us. In this
Congress our ma jority is only twelve. Mr..
Randall only needs six Democrats to fol-
low him and he can get fifteen. He is
firmly fixed with his constituents. Penn
sylvania is the stronghold of protection,
and while Randall is protectionist he re-
ceives the support of both the Democrats
and the Republicans of his district, and no.
body can touch him. Randall is enough of
a Democrat TO want the Democratic party
to remain in power, but that is all. He is
a Republican in his tariff ideas and his
financial policy He knows that as long as
he works for protection both parties will
unite to keep him in power, and he can sit
back and do as he pleases, for his position is
assured He has a following more than
sufficiently strong to control the question
He holds the balance of power, and unless
he favors tariff reform the bill will not pass
think Congress may abolish the tariff on
rice and sugar, but that is not fair; that is
not the way to reform.
MR. RANDALL's CONSTITUENCY.
''Mr. Randall represents constituency
that has been made enormously wealthy by
protection. The iron and steel interest of
Pennsylvania is one of the wealthiest in the
world, vet he does not want the duty on
iron and steel touched. ooh, no. he says,
keep your hands off of that. Abolish the
the rice and sugar tariff, but don't touch
iron or STEEL He is willing for rice and
sugar to go, but when it comes home to him
he cries stop Protection per Sc is not
right, but it Is not right to protect one class
of men and make them enormously wealthy,
and sacrifice another to satisfy the demand
for tariff reform. Protection is a fraud
and a trick. There were two classes
of men in the North during the war
one was thinking of nothing but fighting;
the other Of nothing but making money.
The latter elected and controlled Congress
men and had the tariff put on. These mon
have enjoyed the benefits Of it for twenty
five years, and they do not want to give it
up, and they have maintained it by crying
that it protected the workingmen from the
pauper labor of England. That has been
made war cry, and 1t has had a great effect
with the working classes, especia ly with the
Irish But protection is responsible for
all the strikes and labor troubles
and anarchy from which the North
is suffering. A tariff for revenue, when
it is needed may be all right. Protection
is then not the object but the incident, but
to put on tariff to protect certain individ-
uals is nothing more than paying those in
dividuals bounty for following certain
avocations, just as a steamship running be-
tween here and South America might be
paid, though in that case the bounty would
be proper, for the ship would be benefting
commerce by building up for the country a
new trade; but TO protect individuals is not
the original purpose of this government. 1t
was not intended to be a sucking mother.
THE INTERNAL REVENUE.
"Will the internal revenue be touched
II think it probable that the general to-
bacco tax will be abolished or reduced.
Randall would like TO wipe the internal
revenue from the statute books. 1t amounts
TO more than $500, 100000 per annum, and
he could then say Now, what are you GO
ing to do about the TARIFF Your current